Murder case against those accused in the killing of Danka Ilić reaches court

The court has one month to schedule a preliminary hearing, which will be closed to the public, the court told Tanjug.

The decision to move the trial from the Higher Court in Zaječar to the Higher Court in Negotin was previously made by the Court of Appeal in Niš.

D.D.’s father, R.D., was also initially charged in the case, but proceedings against him were terminated by a court decision.

Under the indictment, issued after the investigation was supplemented, D.D. and S.J. are charged with the criminal offence of aggravated murder committed jointly.

The additional investigation was conducted on the order of the Court of Appeal in Niš after it twice returned the Higher Court in Zaječar’s decision confirming the indictment. The second time, it ordered that the decision be made by an entirely new judicial panel at the Higher Court in Negotin.

The prosecution has asked the court to sentence D.D. and S.J. to life imprisonment.

D.D. and S.J. are suspected of having struck the two-year-old girl with a vehicle belonging to the municipal water utility “Vodovod”, where they were employed, in Banjsko Polje near Bor on March 26, and then placing her in the vehicle.

They are suspected of dumping the girl’s body at a landfill and later moving it to another location.

The girl’s body has never been found.

R.D. is suspected of helping his son, D.D., move the girl’s body.

D.D.’s biological brother died on April 7, 2024, while in police custody at the Bor Police Department.